[POTUS] USAF, Work Tax, and Me: A Love Story

Day 2,532, 20:28 • Published in USA USA • by Tyler Bubblar



Much has been out there in the Media module lately about the work tax, USAF, and even communes. In so many ways it has been surreal as much of my political career in this game has been linked to the three. In some ways I feel like we are seeing outdated arguments from the spring/early summer of 2013. That might seem relatively recent but in this game it is a lifetime. This will likely be a long article. I will be taking you on a stroll down memory lane.

I reported for duty representing the Federalist Party in Congress May 26th 2013. It was to be my first term in Congress since January 2010 in which I had been run out of Louisiana by the now defunct AAP. Due to the treachery of Free Area in the AMP my party was sending an extremely large Caucus to Congress. I was determined to try my best to be quiet, sit back, and learn before injecting myself into things. Cromstar was elected Speaker, then nothing happened. The term dragged on with little progress on anything. Due to a RL emergency Cromstar disappeared without a word and was not seen again for months. New Azazel the Deputy Speaker took on the difficult task of babysitting Congress.

I was extremely disappointed in what Congress had become. My previous time in the legislature there had been committees and actual discussion on where to build fortress states with hospitals and defense systems. It was fun. This was more like an armed standoff. Someone would gather up their courage, put forward an idea for discussion, get flamed, and then stung sullenly withdraw. It was then a return to barely restrained hostility.





In June Greene12 ran for Fed PP. He won the primary and asked me to serve as Political Director and Fed Whip. That was really the beginning of my national career. I did my best to galvanize, rally, and organize my oversized Fed Caucus that had heretofore gone largely to waste. We passed a budget that reduced USAF funding to revenue levels. There were a lot of bitter arguments and fights over it but we had the numbers to force it through. That was just the beginning of the budget fights of that time period. Pre work tax we had a simple income tax. It was set to 25% the max, but even with that rate we were running nearly a 100% deficit on USAF and our MPP stack. We were assured that the reserves would last for years at our current pace of spending, but we were not told what our actual reserve numbers were. When a request was put forward it was shot down as top secret.

So a law was passed. CBO would disclose on a monthly basis SCI spending of the last month and the current reserve levels in the Private Section of Congress. To this day that continues to happen. Getting back to the budget fights. The Federalist Party fought on a monthly basis to cut spending on USAF as we were very concerned about deficit spending. At the time countries were drying up from lack of income. There seemed to be no relief in sight. The arguments continued until the other 3 parties (the AFA was still very much alive as a top 5 PTO group during this time) simply cut us out. We had the largest caucus but the other 3 parties were more than capable of simply ignoring us. This happened due to inexperience along with miscalculations and unnecessary abrasiveness on my part. We were relegated to sitting in the corner with a dunce cap on our heads. We managed to get out of that corner but that is a story for another day.


Working as manager costs me just over $110 in work tax



The dynamics of the budget changed in August of 2013. We were suffering through our summer of wipe, and Plato dropped the Work Tax on us. Now instead of taxing just income those Working as Manager (WAM) would be taxed at a percentage of the average wage for each and every click. More factories equaled more tax paid out. At the time we had been wiped with no Congress and so we had to endure a month of no bonuses coupled with a 25% work tax. It was brutal. This tax on WAM hit communes hard. I was an officer in SHIELD at the time and as a result of the Work Tax, supplies were reduced and popular programs were cut or restructured to be less generous. As soon as a Congress was elected taxes were cut to 5%.

At 5% we ran a very slight surplus, but another change dropped on us during that summer eventually led to a 10% rate. Combat Orders: get paid to fight in competitive battles. We drained much of our reserves and it was decided that they needed to be replenished to stave off future invasions. With the new CO system future wars would be very expensive so cash was needed. I was opposed to the double in the tax rate. I had seen the devastating effect this new tax had had upon the communes of my MU, and so fresh off routine deficit spending to me a small surplus sounded infinitely better than a near 100% deficit.

So it is that I fought a near year long battle to get taxes cut. My first vote to cut the rate to 7% ultimately fell one vote shy of passing. I did not try again for months, but eventually after a few more failures we managed to pass an 8% rate. As I had been pretty much the original voice calling for a cut in taxes, pissed off a lot of people during my attempts to cut taxes, and remained one of the loudest voices for lower taxes it was a bitter irony to be the one to recommend a tax increase to Congress. It was however, in my view the right thing to do.





We are not the strong nation we were a year ago, yet we enjoy some of the highest bonuses in eRepublik. In fact we have recently concluded a deal with Paraguay that will get us full bonuses. That’s right 100/100/100. In the next few days you will see an MPP signed with Paraguay and we will be moving into the region in North Korea they are vacating. This will procure sand for us, bringing our housing bonus to 100%. Defending our bonuses is not an inexpensive endeavor. It takes money to routinely reset determination in France, Japan, and coming soon North Korea. To add to this since we are friends with Mexico and hold an MPP with them we cannot RW Baja and then attack it directly to reset determination. We have to fund an AS by the Netherlands every so often so we can then attack them retaking Baja and the Saltpeter bonus that is provides us.

Having USAF an MU that provides nearly a third of our damage under the direct control of the Executive is extremely helpful in accomplishing the various resets and providing near instant shifting of support to our allies when we are needed. While MUs like EZC, SHIELD, C4, Black Sheep nearly always follow NSC prios as they are private there can be a bit of a delay in reaching someone to direct their damage. As CP and the CO of USAF it is a few clicks of the mouse. I am a private MU player and I am here to tell you that USAF is cheap at the price for what it gives us.





Much has been made about private MUs outperforming USAF. What is overlooked is that the funds to support an MU comes from somewhere. SHIELD is supported by infrastructure purchased via the Credit Cards of Crashthompson, Molly Emma, Tiacha, and WookyJack. I believe that EZC has a similar plastic based foundation for itself as well. The Black Sheep ironically the most vocal critics of USAF uses infrastructure that was purchased with Government funds for former Air Force officers ( Air Force was a branch of USAF) in order to help the Air Force become more self sufficient. These officers walked away with that infrastructure, and until recently did not repay the government for the factories they walked away with. It was that walkout that created the very system of funding the USAF that is now subject to criticism. After the infrastructure walk off it was decided that no more investments in the communes of USAF would be made. That was more than 2 years ago.

I need to stress that I personally like many of the members of the Black Sheep. I consider them friends, and when they were targeted for blacklist due to the loss of all that infrastructure I and my Party were unwilling to aid in that effort. Ultimately a settlement was reached and the issue was shelved. However, by their long ago actions they created the necessity of the current way we supply and fund USAF. They view USAF as an underperforming money guzzler. Yet the money guzzling at least was created by their actions. Which is harsh to say but it does not make it any less true.



“@Tyler - glad to see you're taking losing like a champ. It's easy to cast stones when you haven't done anything of note worth defending.” Oblige September 2, 2013

It has been an interesting journey for me. Once upon a time I was considered the idealistic outsider. Now I see accusations of greed and elitism levied against me that I once similarly considered others to be. Perspective changes when you take the big seat. Suddenly you are responsible for the community. It’s exhilarating ,intense, and stressful. I have learned that it is impossible to please everyone. I have enjoyed the last two months as President. I am proud of our successful Defense of New York on 9/11/14, and of our defeat of the Argentine Airstrike. I am also proud of the progress made this month in rebuilding our Domestic Departments. However, I will not be seeking reelection for a third term. I look forward to watching the campaign for CP and doing some work at the Party level. I thank you for taking the time to read this rather lengthy article. Serving as your President has been the honor of my e-life. Until next time stay classy America!